Shipboard Party
After receiving a request from Her Highness, I went straight to the bridge and consulted with Sister Meyrica.
The route for the shipboard party was quickly decided, and we also booked a guide for tomorrow’s move to the spaceport.
I heard that the food ingredients would be brought in by tomorrow morning, and preparations in the kitchen would begin tomorrow afternoon.
It was then that I realized for the first time how much time, effort, and money goes into a noble’s party.
The construction Her Highness had requested was already completed and inspected.
As I was signing the inspection report, I asked Sister Meyrica about the carrier-based aircraft.
“By the way, what happened to the carrier-based aircraft we brought here? Have you heard anything?”
“Yes, since it was a prototype, it’s taking time to obtain safety certification. Besides the pulsar cannon that this ship is also equipped with, Maria was excited about loading the ‘Sunflower Four’. Did you approve that?”
“Huh? I don’t know anything about that. I’m not even sure if that carrier-based aircraft is under my discretion.”
“I wonder where those orders came from? I’ll ask about it later.”
Later, Sister Meyrica found out that the orders came from Her Highness, and that the president was happily working on it with Maria.
It’s becoming quite a heavily armed carrier-based aircraft, even equipped with two torpedoes.
However, it’s taking time to get approval from the authorities for regular use.
The president was boasting about pushing it through with brute force by involving the parent company, Casbell Arsenal, so it should be completed within a month.
As for us, once the party here is over, we’re scheduled to visit each star system in turn to explain about the new organization.
According to Her Highness, we’ll invite influential people from each star system to this ship and explain that we’ll handle everything from pirate investigations to crackdowns, asking for their cooperation.
Apparently, we’ll pressure them by saying that we won’t rely on the military, and we’ll crack down immediately upon discovery, so the arrest rate for pirates is expected to improve, and we absolutely don’t want them to refuse cooperation.
The first of these is the shipboard party the day after tomorrow, and failure is not an option.
I’m supposed to do my best as a host, but I wasn’t taught how to interact with nobles at school.
Luxury cruise ship crew members are expected to socialize with guests as part of their job, and ship captains often dine with passengers. Apparently, all shipping companies put effort into such manner education, but the military doesn’t have such educational items.
It doesn’t seem necessary for the Coast Guard either, so to be honest, all the officers, including myself, are dreading the day after tomorrow.
Her Highness says, “There’s nothing to worry about,” but I wonder about that.
Mr. Ferman and Ms. Margaret tell us it’s fine to be ourselves since everyone understands this isn’t a cruiser or luxury liner, but they still taught all of us officers some basic manners.
Time passed like this, and finally, it was time to welcome our guests.
Leaving the bridge to Sister Meyrica, I stood next to Her Highness in the lobby, waiting for the invited guests.
My ship had been transported to the spaceport yesterday, and now an incredibly luxurious tube used by nobles for boarding was connected to the hall at the boarding gate.
Even nobles have to go through security checks, so it took some time for the guests to arrive, but eventually, the nobles we invited, led by the Duke, arrived.
Suppressing my developing stomach ache, I greeted the guests with a smile.
I couldn’t give the full salute like when I welcomed Her Highness before, so I exchanged greetings with light bows.
The security personnel from Her Highness’s “Garden of Lilies” skillfully guided the welcomed guests, taking the entourage and guests to separate multipurpose halls.
Due to regulations, we had to seat everyone until takeoff, so we took off as soon as preparations were complete to avoid keeping the nobles waiting.
Thanks to the wishes of the Duke and Her Highness, we were able to take off without any delay.
We left the spaceport’s control area immediately after takeoff.
Once we reached this point, we could switch to normal navigation, releasing the guests and starting the party.
I reported to Her Highness, who was sitting behind me, “We are now entering normal navigation.”
Her Highness immediately stood up from her seat and moved on to the next action.
She gave instructions to Ferman, who was standing by.
Then, turning to me, she said, “Please greet and guide the guests on board.”
I didn’t understand what Her Highness meant, but the executive officer, Sister Meyrica, gave me a hint.
“Captain, it’s that thing, you know. Like when the captain of a regular flight says it’s okay to unfasten your seatbelts.”
“Oh, I see. I got it now.”
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Her Highness nodded with a smile, probably having overheard my conversation with Sister Meyrica.
I picked up the microphone for ship-wide announcements from the captain’s seat and began my greeting.
“This is Captain Nao-Bruce of the KSS9999 Space Destroyer ‘Shunmin’. We have now left the control area of Faren Spaceport, so you may unfasten your seatbelts. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for coming aboard our ship. Although it’s a short time of about four hours, we will do our utmost to welcome you. Please enjoy yourselves.”
After my greeting, Her Highness said, “Let me speak as well,” so I turned on the microphone switch for her seat.
“Once again, I thank you for kindly accepting my invitation. Until the party preparations are complete, we will guide you to a separate room where we will serve drinks. Our staff will be with you shortly, so please wait a little longer.”
After Her Highness’s greeting, she turned to me and said, “Well then, Captain, shall we go?”
Huh?
Where are we going?
Isn’t the bridge my workplace?
“Captain. I’ll take command of the bridge.”
Sister Meyrica, following Her Highness’s intention, quickly took command of the bridge from me.
“Ah, I see. Executive Officer, I leave the bridge command to you.”
I’ve become quite an unreliable captain.
Well, it’s too late to worry about that now, but more importantly, our destination must be the venue.
Another tragedy like the other day… There was no tragedy that time.
However, it’s a fact that it was a painful time for me.
“We will now open Multipurpose Halls One to Three, the Lobby Hall, and the rear hangar. Also, the officers’ mess will be opened for official invited guests. All personnel, remember to be courteous to our guests.”
The executive officer, Sister Meyrica, is giving orders to each department head from the bridge.
She’s acting much more like a captain than I am.
I follow Her Highness to the First Multipurpose Hall.
Here, we had accommodated thirty guests, mainly nobles, as official invitees.
This is the room where we had the dock’s president hastily install additional emergency seats for nobles.
When we entered, the head of security, Virginia, was already taking care of the Duke and others.
Her Highness gave a signal to the head of security with her eyes and began to speak in a slightly louder voice.
“I’d like to thank the Duke and everyone who has responded to my invitation. The captain will now guide you to a more comfortable room. Please wait there a little longer while enjoying some drinks. We won’t keep you waiting for too long. Now, shall we go?”
She says this and turns to me with a smile.
I wish they had briefed me about this in advance.
Virginia quietly instructs me to [Take everyone to the officers’ mess].
Hey, hey, I got it.
I guess this is how I’m treated anyway.
“Well then, everyone. Please follow me, if you don’t mind. This room will remain open. We can provide simple drinks here as well, so please feel free to use it anytime. You can also use it for meetings with your companions. The room where your entourage was is also open. Please feel free to use that as well.”
Saying this, I led everyone to the officers’ mess.
There, many security personnel were waiting, handing drinks to the guests.
It seems noble politics is about to begin.
Her Highness also started chatting with the Duke.
I was about to head to the rear hangar, which is being used as the main venue for the party, after making sure everyone had entered this room and settled in, but Virginia stopped me and introduced me to several nobles.
Honestly, for the sake of my stomach, I wish they’d spare me.
Not long after, we received word that the party preparations were complete, and this time Her Highness herself is guiding everyone to the rear hangar.
I thought it was some kind of punishment game to invite nobles to a party in the rear hangar, but including the entourage, none of the multipurpose halls could accommodate everyone.
If we’re all going to gather in one place, that’s the only option, but I wonder how it will turn out.
However, thanks to Maria and the others’ mischief, the place looks just like a hall if there’s no internal boat stored, it’s been so luxuriously constructed.
According to Maria’s explanation, they used materials from the main hall of that luxury liner to finish the interior.
I heard it’s made of a material so sturdy that laser weapons and even some explosives can’t damage it, and Her Highness seemed to like the interior design, apparently having planned to hold the party there from the start.
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